"I don't understand all the uproar about this. Why can't we just talk about football? What are they trying to say, that Messi is a bad person? They are trying to depict him as the bad guy," Xavi told Sport.

"These kinds of incidents have been happening in football for ages and will continue to take place. I do not know whether it actually happened. It does not interest me and I have not asked Leo about it."

The return of the Copa del Rey tie between Barcelona and Madrid takes place at Camp Nou on February 27.